There is widespread and well-founded belief that exercise is vital to health. Some level of exercise is inevitable in everyday life for the vast majority of people. They walk, they lift objects, they climb stairs, they get in and out of cars, they stand up and they sit down.
However, from time to time, there are individuals who suffer an injury or illness so debilitating that they remain bedridden for extended periods of time, perhaps months, perhaps longer. While ill or injured, their muscles atrophy, perhaps to the point where they require assistance in raising themselves up or turning themselves. When movement itself becomes an issue, then a decline in health is inevitable and swift. Maintaining or restoring the ability of a chronically bedridden patient to move becomes a top priority.